When you’re planning to visit another country, most people will expect you to act a certain way, go to all the tourist sites or destinations, eat the popular food, and all the usual things that all the other tourists do. While there’s nothing wrong with going down this route for your vacation, it’s also nothing new.
Don’t misunderstand, if you enjoy experiencing the activities and seeing the popular tourist attractions, then, by all means, go ahead. But if you’re looking to have a more meaningful trip that is far from the usual vacation route that tourists take, then you’ve come to the right place.
All countries have so much more to offer than what is shown in media, but since the popular activities and places are in the limelight, that’s where all tourists flock to. And, of course, they deserve the hype they’re receiving, but your experience could be better if you were to set out on your own path.
Instead of following the usual itineraries you can find online, learn how to create your own. This will allow you to decide on every aspect of your vacation, from the food you’re going to eat down to the experiences you’re going to have. To help you get started, here are three aspects you need to focus on:
Accommodation
Before you can start creating your itinerary, you will first have to book your accommodation. That’s because after settling your flight details, the next pressing matter you have on your hands is where you’re going to sleep once you get to the foreign country.
Most people might flock to the popular inns or bed and breakfasts near the activities they want to do, but that would mean that the underdogs aren’t getting any exposure. There could be hidden gems that offer far better service and reasonable prices but don’t receive traction because they don’t have a big brand.
Instead of jumping on the accommodation bandwagon, you can do a little digging and find renowned hotels that look promising because they might be the better option. You could be surprised at how many hidden gems you can discover while researching your travel destination.
Food and Drinks
Unlike your accommodation, the places you eat and drink don’t have to be planned down to the last detail. It could help to research a few popular spots with the locals so that you can start on the right foot, but the rest, you should leave up to chance.
When it comes to food, it’s tough to get things wrong because food is such an easy topic. You can trust popular food reviews by random strangers on the internet, or you can know whether an establishment deserves your praise by trying it out yourself. Who knows? They might be wrong because you actually enjoyed the food served to you by a restaurant that received bad reviews.
Don’t overthink the food that you’re going to eat. It could be an experience you’re going to remember for the rest of your life, or it could be something you want to forget immediately. Either way, it’s going to be an impactful experience that you have to have on your own. So, let your feet lead the way.
Destinations
It’s understandable if you want to go to the popular tourist sites because, after all, those may be the exact reasons why you wanted to come to the country in the first place. But just because you planned to see those destinations doesn’t mean you can’t check out other spots while you’re there.
You may not include these rustic destinations in your itinerary, but once you get there, it could be a good thing to ask the locals about the hidden gems located in their country. This can be a great way to make new friends and learn about the local culture without compromising your safety in the process.
Getting lost in a foreign country may be frightening, but it can also lead to a great adventure that you never expected to have. And that alone can make it more meaningful than any other vacation you’ve ever gone on because it wasn’t planned with a blueprint — it’s just a result of how things played out.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have different experiences from other people. Some might say that it will always be different because no two people are the same, ergo, they won’t have the same experiences, but that leaves no room for excitement. So instead of waiting for things to play out differently, you should do things in your own unique way from the get-go.
